Tax Ministry's Official on Tax Payments of Foreign Organizations

The total volume of tax payments of foreign organizations registered in Moscow to the consolidated budget was more than 7bn rubles ($225m) in 2002, Igor Pedchenko, the head of the international tax relations department of the Russian Tax Ministry, told journalists in Moscow today. According to the ministry, some 16,077 foreign companies were registered in Moscow as of January 1, 2003, compared to more than 14,000 on January 1, 2002. Income tax payments of these organizations to the federal budget were 795m rubles ($25.6m) and some 775m rubles ($24.9m) to the city's budget.

Pedchenko noted that it was hard to define the amount of taxes paid by foreign organizations in Russia because they were as a rule registered at the same tax agencies as domestic organizations. He also stressed that foreign organizations had several billion rubles in tax debts, however he admitted these were debts of organizations that no longer existed.